The Otonokizaka Band
by Sir Tortles
Summary: AU. As a second year member of the Otonokizaka High School Marching Band, Honoka's psyched to finally get to go to band camp. But she'll have to deal her way through strange instructors, her weird cabin-mates, and quite possibly the largest spiders in the world if she wants to get through this week, much less entire Marching Band season, alive. Also KotoUmi, PanaRin, NozoEli
1. Chapter 1

**Edit: HAHAHA I TOTALLY FUCKING MESSED UP THE SCHOOL NAME FUCK.**

**I don't own Love Live**

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><p>"This is it!" Honoka was giddy. Five hours in a bus and they'd reached what could only be described to as the middle of nowhere. A group of girls sat on the bus that had made the journey up to, well, a campsite. Honoka's two best friends, Kotori and Umi, sat across from her on the bus.<p>

"She's in for a rude awakening," Umi whispered to Kotori.

"I know," Kotori whispered back. "But let her enjoy herself for a little longer. She looks as excited as you did last year." Umi began to blush at Kotori's statement, causing Kotori to giggle.

This whole scene was lost on Honoka, who was excited looking out her window at the camp. To one side there was a large, level field, with a dirt path that stretched down to a cabin. To the other side of the bus there was a large building, which the first busses students were entering now. There was a large rolling hill adjacent to the building, with small cabins dotting the bottom.

Honoka looked around excitedly, taking in the whole scenery. _This is it,_ she thought as someone climbed onto the bus to take attendance. _I'm at band camp!_

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><p>They gathered into one hall of the building. The hall was large, with wood panelling and wood floors. The campgrounds normally hosted a summer camp, but was rented out to Otonokizaka for a week every summer.<p>

They sat on the floor of the room. Through one door was the dining hall and through the other were some ping-pong tables.

"That's the band room," Honoka heard one girl say to a first year, signalling the room with ping pong paddles. She wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but figured it had something to do with the fact that a few choral groups and an orchestral group, all from Otonokizaka, also shared the campgrounds with them for the week.

The conversations around her were cut short by the band director coming in front of them. She was a woman of average height, with brown hair and glasses.

"As many of you in the band already know," she began. "My name is Ms. Yamanaka. I'm your band director and camp coordinator." She continued with some introductions to other important staff members. Choral director, certain band instructors, the orchestra director. "As many of you know," she said. "the Otonokizaka music program has taken some severe hits over the past few years. As a result, we've decided to break from our old system of cabins sleeping with sections and will be putting you in cabins of nine people who have been randomly selected."

Honoka began to space out at Ms. Yamanaka, or Sawako as many people in the band referred to her, listed out cabins. Probably not smart in case her name was called, but she didn't think about that.

"-and Kousaka Honoka," Sawako cut into her thoughts. "You'll be in cabin 3 with Hirasawa Yui and Tainaka Ritsu as your counselors." Sawako paused. "Who put those two together as counselors?" She shrugged and continued.

"Wait, what?" Honoka whispered to Kotori.

"It's fine," Kotori whispered back. "We're in the same cabin."

Honoka tried to reply, but Sawako had finished listing off cabins and moved to letting them all off to go to their cabins. "You'll all have a few hours to unpack before dinner. After will be evening rehearsals. Your counselors have been nice enough to move your instruments into the cabin you'll be practicing in and your luggage down to your cabins. Make sure to thank them later. Thank you, that is all."

Students began to move towards the doors and down to their cabins. Honoka felt herself getting swept up into the madness, but kept her eyes on Kotori to keep from getting lost. They had to walk down a large hill before getting to the bottom of the cabins. Kotori pointed to one with a number 3 on it. Kind of self explanatory which one was theirs but don't put it past Honoka. Really, don't.

The cabin was small, with four beds on either side. They were small, cots. A smaller, separate room jutted out from the back wall with two doors. Inside of them were two were two other beds, one on either side of the doors, which Umi explained were for the counselors.

The three stepped in and grabbed their luggage, moving them to three adjacent beds on the left side of the room. Honoka was on the outside, with Umi between them and Kotori in the third bed, pushed against a wall. The counselors would be down in a few minutes after having a meeting with the rest of the staff. Other members of their cabin slowly walked in, grabbing their luggage and moving it to beds.

Four of the girls went to the other side of the room. One of them Honoka knew. The girl in question, Nozomi, gave her a small smile and wave. She was normally a clarinet player, but in the marching band she had adopted a weird choice: mellophone. It was a weird trumpet-like instrument, normally played by french horn players. She talked amiably to a blonde girl slightly taller than her, whom Honoka recognized as their drum major and former lead mellophone player, Eli.

Next to them were two shorter girls, one of whom had short orange hair and the other who had brown hair that was cut right below her ears. Honoka assumed they were first years. There was only one other bed beside Honoka, occupied by a third year she'd seen, a member of the drumline.

"I figure we should all introduce ourselves," Nozomi said with a smile, looking towards the other members of the group. Honoka nodded in agreement, along with the two first years. The third year next to her said nothing, but let out a small sigh. "I'll start, then." Nozomi said. "My name is Toujou Nozomi, I'm a third year and I'm a mellophone player. I'm a gemini and am quite good at fortune telling."

The girl next to her perked up after Nozomi finished speaking. "My name is Ayase Eli. I'm also a third year. I'm drum major this year. I look forward to working with you all."

"That's such a boring introduction, Elichi," Nozomi pouted.

"Huh? There's nothing more interesting to say," Eli exclaimed, staring at Nozomi with a light blush on her face.

"Me next!" The red haired girl exclaimed, raising her hand. "My name is Hoshizora Rin! I'm a first year and a trombone player! My favorite things include running, ramen, and that video where the guy plays trombone with his son! And this is Kayo-chin!" The girl next to her nodded meekly.

"My name's Koizumi Hanayo," she fumbled over her words, stuttering and pausing. Her voice was quiet, hard to hear. "I play the tuba and I'm a first year also. I hope I can learn a lot from you all!" She bowed. The other girls stared at her, mouths slightly agape, excluding Nozomi, who simply smiled.

"I guess I'm next!" Kotori popped her head towards the other side of the room. "My name's Minami Kotori. I'm a second year and I play the clarinet. I don't really know what else to say, but I helped design the color guard's uniforms for this year," she said with a smile.

"Sonoda Umi," Umi began awkwardly. "I'm a second year, baritone saxophone player. I like writing and playing music. I hope we'll all get along." Honoka smiled at Umi, before realizing all eyes had turned for her to give her introduction.

"My name's Kousaka Honoka," she said, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "I'm a second year student and clarinet player, but this will be my first year going to band camp. I like sweets and hope to inherit my parents sweet shop one day."

"Number one percussionist in the universe Nico-Nico-Nii at your service!" The girl beside Honoka said, putting both her hands up with her index, pinky, and thumbs extended.

"Nico," Nozomi said. "Give a normal intro, or you'll have to face one of my punishments."

Nico's expression broke in a second. "Yazawa Nico, third year, percussionist." Her words sounded forced.

"What kind of punishment is she talking about?" Honoka whispered to Kotori, who shrugged.

"Well, wonderful now that that's all done, we should get unpacking," Nozomi said, seeming satisfied with everyone's answers. Honoka looked to Umi and Kotori, who both shrugged before going to unpack.

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><p><strong>Yo I'm getting back into the swing of fanfiction. This story will definitely cover them through a marching band season. I have a lot of experience in band, so i'll try and make as many references to it as understandable to as many people as possible. I hope to update this story once a week if possible, we'll see if something comes up.<strong>

**Also contains minor references to K-on with the characters. I used them to fill some holes in staffing etc. since I'm not into making OC's for this kind of story. No real knowledge of the show is necessary. They're minor characters and in some way can be treated like OC's. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Some stuff I forgot to mention before: this story's gonna be hella gay so get used to that? Will have KotoUmi, NicoMaki, NozoEri, PanaRin, TsubaHono. Will probably take a while to get there but yeah. Thanks for reading, any and all reviews greatly appreciated!**

**On a final note I hope to update this at least once a week, hopefully on Sunday. Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: do not own Love Live.**

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><p>Honoka was able to unpack quickly. Umi and Kotori had both advised Honoka to pack the necessities and not much more.<p>

"Oh, look," Kotori said, walking towards the front door of the cabin. "This one was used over the summer."

She was looking at a small whiteboard tacked to the wall. On it was written "Muse" with "names" written below it. The names of the cabin mates had presumably been wiped off because of the end of camp.

"Muse, huh," Nozomi said.

"What's that?" Rin asked.

Nozomi stood up from her bed to explain. "Every year each cabin used in the summer camp has a name. The different cabins compete and the winning cabin gets pizza and a trip to a bowling alley. Plus bragging rights." Rin nodded. "It's a sort of tradition at camp. Usually a section would adopt the name of a cabin for at least the week, usually a season."

"That's why we were Afterschool Tea Time last year," Kotori explained to Honoka.

"Afterschool Tea Time?" Nico asked with a snort. "What a weird fucking name."

"Ayo, what the fuck did you just say?" A new voice said. The doors to the cabin opened and two women walked in.

They both had brown hair, though the one who spoke had hair slightly lighter than her companion.

Nico jumped in shock at the woman's voice. "Ritsu! Why are you here?" She exclaimed.

"I'm your counselor, loser. Didn't you listen?" Nico glared at her. "Alright, privates," Ritsu continued. "I'm your counselor and commander for the week. You may cry, you may scream a lot. But it's okay. With my fearless leadership, you'll live. I'm a former percussionist and a percussion instructor. And this is Yui," she pointed to her companion who was staring off into space. "She's an airhead, but she'll help you out. Introduce yourselves, privates."

One by one, the girls introduced themselves. Honoka had seen Ritsu and Yui before, as they were both instructors of the percussion and brass sections respectively.

"I got a question," Rin began after the introductions were finished. Ritsu looked to her and nodded for her to continue. "Aren't we supposed to have nine people in our cabin? There are only eight of us."

"Good observation private. A few more well placed comments like that and you just might get promoted," Ritsu said. "To be quite honest, I have no idea. There were just enough girls in the band to fill cabins of nine without any odd numbers. I think Sawako mentioned something, but I forgot." Ritsu stuck her tongue out and smiled.

"Idiot," Nico grumbled.

"What was that you little-"

"Ah, I know," Yui said suddenly, her eyes snapping back from the wall. "Sawa-chan said that she'd be showing up late. She's a first year. Her name was Nishikino Maki, I think." Ritsu nodded sagely.

"I remembered that," she said. "I was simply testing Yui's knowledge."

"You're lying," Umi cut in.

"Meh, whatever. Look at the time, it's time for dinner. Get yourselves together, privates, you've got rehearsal!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Rin said, saluting Ritsu.

"I like this one."

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><p>To get to the building they had to climb up the large hill. This wasn't a terribly difficult task, but Honoka noticed at the top that some of the girls at camp seemed incredibly winded. Honoka passed them off as not being in the band, thus not being a physically strong as she <em>totally <em>was.

There were large stairs leading up to the entrance of the dining area, with a porch at the top of the stairs. Sawako stood on the porch in front of them.

"Today you'll all pick your seats," she said after quieting the girls down. She called them up by age. The third years went first, followed by second years, then first years.

"Are we all sitting together?" Honoka asked, turning towards Umi and Kotori.

"Kotori and I sat together last year, so probably," Umi said. Kotori nodded beside her.

"What about you, Honoka?" Kotori asked.

"I'm going to make a bunch of new friends this week, so I may sit at a different table. We'll see. I'll try to get near you guys."

"Sounds like fun!" Kotori said with a smile. Honoka flashed her a thumbs up. Sawako called for the second years and they all started to move up the stairs.

Entering into the dining room, Honoka recognized two tables with people she already knew. All of the tables held eight people. Ritsu and Nico sat at the first table with a few other girls. Eli and Nozomi sat at the other table and Yui was their counselor.

Honoka moved towards Nico's table. She knew Umi and Kotori would most likely sit with Eli and Nozomi and she wanted to keep her goal of making as many new friends during this week as possible.

"I see you've made the right choice," Ritsu said when Honoka took a seat at the table, across from Nico. The tables had benches for the students, one on either side of the rectangular table. The four girls would sit next to each other on the benches. There were already other girls at the table, only two seats were open, one next to Honoka and one next to Nico.

The table Kotori and Umi decided to sit at, Eli and Nozomi's table, was right behind Honoka. She turned to see her two best friends behind her, talking politely to Eli and Nozomi across from them. There was only one seat available at the table.

"Nico," Ritsu said. "Save the seat next to you. For the girl who's coming late."

"What?" Nico glared at her. "Why should I? Not to mention, how would I do that?"

Honoka felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders and someone plopped down next to her. "You don't get along well, yet the two of you are near each other a lot," it was Rin's distinct voice. She ended almost every sentence with a "nya" or other cat noise.

"We don't get along." Nico said.

"There was actually an issue Nico's first year. Something involving soup getting thrown across the dining hall and some girls getting burns. As a precaution, she sits at my table every single year. I'm good with delinquents," Ritsu said.

The conversation shifted to other topics. Honoka turned to look at the table behind her, seeing Hanayo sitting at it. She looked somewhat uncomfortable whenever the conversation at the table shifted towards her.

At the end of the meal, Sawako called everyone's attention to send them off to their evening rehearsals. "Brass and woodwinds will work in the main lodge. Guard will be on the field. Orchestra will go to the orchestra cabin, chorus to the choral cabins. Drumline goes to the barn and front ensemble goes to the pit cabin. Have good rehearsals."

"Hey, Nico," Honoka leaned over the table. "What's the barn?"

"There's a barn next to the field. You'll see it tomorrow at rehearsal." Honoka nodded.

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><p>Evening rehearsal was the easiest rehearsal. Because they had just gotten to camp, they only went through the warm ups and exercises they'd use for the rest of the week. The rehearsal spanned the course of 3 hours, but went by quickly.<p>

Honoka loved this rehearsal. Once they got back from camp they'd be outside for all their rehearsals, marching and playing at the same time, so it was nice to have time where they could focus solely on their playing. Her section, the clarinet section, was the smallest section with only three players. Kotori, a first year, and herself. The first year was a little awkward and had friends in the other sections, but all in all they got along well. Umi was a few people down with the low saxophones, so they didn't get to talk to her much during rehearsal.

At the end of rehearsal the whole camp met back in the main lodge for social. This was basically a small party. The counselors would play music off of some stereo systems and people could dance. In the other room, the one with ping pong tables, girls would play ping pong or sit and relax after a long day of rehearsal.

Honoka wasn't about that life though, she wanted to dance. And more importantly, she wanted to dance with her friends. She grabbed Kotori and Umi's arms, pulling them towards the dance floor.

"Hold on, Honoka," Umi said, pulling back, stopping them.

"Come on, Umi! Let's go dance!" Honoka said, still tugging feebly at Umi's arm. "It'll be fun, trust me!"

"Kotori," Umi said, turning towards Kotori, trying to get her to stop.

"I think it'd be fun to dance," Kotori said with a smile. Umi groaned in defeat as Honoka cheered, pulling the two friends to the dance floor.

On the outskirts of the dance floor, Hanayo watched all the people dancing. She knew Rin was inside the masses of people and wanted to join her friend, but held herself back. She couldn't go in there. Everyone else was dancing around friends, making new friends, and just being social in general.

"Kayo-chin!" She saw a hand push it's way out of the masses of people before she saw the rest of Rin jump forwards towards her. "Come and dance!"

"Eh? I couldn't possibly," Hanayo stammered, looking down at the ground.

"But Kayo-chin, it's really fun!"

Hanayo opened her mouth to reply, but feeling no words come out, she settled for shaking her head to say no.

"That's okay," Rin said. Hanayo's head snapped up to Rin, who put her hands on her hips. "If Kayo-chin doesn't want to dance today, she won't. And I'll stay with her." Hanayo smiled at Rin's sentiment and the two girls turned to watch the people dancing.

Eli and Nozomi sat on a bench in the room with the ping-pong tables, watching as Honoka pulled Kotori and Umi to the dance floor.

"She's so gung-ho about everything," Eli remarked. Nozomi hummed in agreement.

"But maybe it's not so bad," Nozomi said. "This week's going to bring us all closer. It's going to be interesting." She looked over to the corner of the room where Nico sat, tapping away with her drumsticks on her shoes.

"How do you know?" Eli asked, watching the three second years dancing. They were an odd trio of dancers, ranging between Umi's minor jerky movements that were barely passable for dancing and Honoka's large, erratic movements that threatened to hit someone in the head. Kotori sat somewhere in the middle of them, with a normal dance style.

"Trust the cards, Elichi," Nozomi said, giving Eli a knowing smile. "Band camp is always interesting anyway."


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow. I got a chapter out? idk what's happening. Don't get used to this.**

**From here until the end of camp each chapter will probably be a day of their lives. idk the next day of camps going to be great.**

**As always reviews appreciated**

**Disclaimer: not mine, yo**

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><p>"It's too early to be alive."<p>

"I warned you about this, Honoka."

"It's worse than anyone could have dreamed." Honoka groaned.

"You probably wish you were dreaming now, huh," Kotori asked with a smile, coming out of one of the bathrooms fully dressed. It was seven in the morning. It was far too early to be alive for Honoka.

Umi and Kotori seemed to be fine with the early morning wake up. So did Nozomi and Eli, though Eli seemed a little out of it. According to Ritsu, Rin had woken up at five and was bouncing around the cabin. Hanayo was awake, more or less. She was sitting up in bed, trying to rub sleep out of her eyes. Nico was, well, Honoka couldn't actually see Nico. Nico was curled up under her blankets in a little cocoon.

"Everyone get up, we have dinner soon," Ritsu grumbled, drowsiness clear in her voice.

"Dinner? Did I miss breakfast?" Yui was as tired as Ritsu.

"Whatever. Is everyone up?"

"Almost," Umi said, pointing towards the Nico shaped lump.

"Oh, I got this," Ritsu said, getting up. She moved over to Nico's bed and jumped onto it. "Nico, get up." A muffled groan was her only reply. "Fine, you don't want to, you'll have to deal with it." She began jumping up and down, screaming the lyrics Anaconda. She got through the chorus without Nico making any motion of moving. Honoka realized the rap was coming up. Ritsu hit all the lyrics with surprising accuracy.

Nico shouted and jumped up, sitting up in the bed. The sudden motion shocked Ritsu, who took a step back and fell onto Honoka's bed. She smashed into Honoka's legs, causing Honoka to shout in pain.

"Honoka, are you okay?" Umi stepped towards her friend.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Honoka said with a pained smile.

"You need to get dressed," Eli said in a curt voice. She walked over to the other side of the cabin. She was already dressed and ready to go. She had a large water jug in one hand and a small bag slung over her shoulder. "Quickly."

Honoka nodded and pushed Ritsu off of her, who was shaking her first at Nico. Nico was sticking her tongue out at Ritsu. Honoka grabbed her clothing and waited for Umi or Rin to come out from one of the two bathrooms.

"Get up, Nico," Eli said, directing her attention to the small first year. Nico turned to Eli, stick sticking her tongue out. Nozomi poked out from behind Eli, holding her hands up and groping the air.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Honoka asked, leaning towards Kotori, who shrugged.

"Who knows."

Eli then turned her stare to Hanayo, whose shoulders jumped up to her ears from nerves. Eli stared at her for a second before a smile came over her features. "Take your time, it's all okay."

"Why does she get such a nice statement!" Nico shouted, jumping up.

"Camp is hard to adjust to, but you'll be fine," Eli said, ignoring Nico. Umi came out from one of the bathrooms, looking around, confused. Honoka shrugged at her and moved past her to get to the bathroom.

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><p>It was raining. Honoka had been too tired in the morning to notice until they were moving up the hill. Even then, she didn't notice until her hair was drenched. She had forgotten her raincoat, but it wasn't too big of a deal. They wouldn't be outside in this kind of weather, so she didn't worry about getting wet.<p>

The breakfast meal was pancakes and sausages. Nico told her that the meals they served were actually pretty good for camp food. It wasn't a five course meal. Hell, it wasn't better than anything Honoka's mom made, but it was passable.

They had another indoor rehearsal. This time they began work on movement one of their piece. It was a redesign of a classical piece. Honoka had never heard classical piece before, but the marching version sounded nice.

The Otonokizaka High School Music program had suffered severe budget cuts over the past few years. It was a pretty common phenomenon. 30,000 dollars goes missing from the budget and the music program lost close to 30,000 dollars. Because of the budget loss, Otonokizaka couldn't afford to purchase a new piece for the marching had to resort to using an old piece that they had kept archived. From what Honoka had heard, they had asked a skilled composer to arrange the piece for their size band.

Honoka didn't care too much about that right now. All she currently cared about was the woodwind feature in the first movement. It wasn't hard, but the clarinet part was important. The clarinet section was also easily outplayed by any other section in the band. Clarinet is, by nature, a quiet instrument. It was initially created to compliment violins in an orchestra or something. It wasn't meant to overshadow a loud brass section in an outdoor marching band.

Kotori and Honoka were both blasting as loud as possible. The volume that felt close to quadruple forte. And she knew the first year was doing her best, even if it was barely audible. But some of the upper saxophone players decided that they should also play the woodwind feature as loud as possible, making any of the clarinet sections attempts futile.

Honoka looked over to the saxophones laughing loudly at what was happening. The alto saxophone section consisted of four members. Two of the members, both upperclassmen, were laughing loudly. The other two, both underclassmen, stood looking uncomfortable. Honoka watched as Umi chastised the two upperclassmen about proper dynamics.

The rehearsal lasted for three hours. At the end, Eli instructed them all to leave their instruments on their cases. She informed them the rain wouldn't stop and they'd be playing after lunch. On the walk back to the cabin, Honoka found herself surrounded by the other girls of her cabin, minus Nico. The three second years walked together, with the first and third years close behind the walk back to the cabin, Honoka found herself surrounded by the other girls of her cabin, minus Nico. The three second years walked together, with the first and third years close behind them.

"How was your first morning rehearsal?" Nozomi asked the two first years.

"Rin had a lot of fun!" Rin said. Hanayo nodded in agreement.

"It's going to get a lot better once we get outside," Eli said. "I can't wait until we can go running. And warmup marching. It's going to be great."

"Elichi, you have to go easy on them," Nozomi said to her friend.

"Eh?"

"Not everyone is as into this as you are." They all entered into the cabin. Staff had been dismissed from rehearsal early, so they had returned to their cabins. They were greeted by the site of Yui back asleep in her bed and two new counselors sitting on the benches, chatting amiably. Honoka recognized one of them as the other counselor at her table. She didn't know the other one.

"Is rehearsal over already?" The one she didn't recognized asked. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Eli nodded, walking past Honoka and into the cabin. "That means we'll have to go back to our cabins," the blonde said to the other woman, who had dark, straight hair.

"I don't think we properly met yet," the second woman said to Honoka. "My name's Akiyama Mio. I'm a low brass and low woodwind instructor." She waved to Umi, Hanayo, and Rin.

"My name's Tsumugi Kotobuki. I'm the pit instructor. It's lovely to meet you," she smiled at all the girls.

"Anyway, we'll be going," the two stood. "If Ritsu doesn't get down here and you need something, feel free to wake Yui up. Just push her onto the ground or something."

The two left the girls alone. They all moved to their beds. Honoka found herself in a conversation with Rin and Hanayo, who moved to her side of the cabin to talk to her. Nozomi and Eli were playing some sort of card game. Umi was reading a book. Kotori was flipping through a magazine she'd brought with her. Everything felt calm and normal, until the door smashed open, crashing against the wall.

"What's up, gaylords!" Nico shouted, pounding into the room.

"What the actual fu-"

"Nico Nico nii~ World's greatest percussion Yazawa Nico here to tell you all that percussion got held for like twenty minutes so Ritsu won't be coming down. That means you have to get your gay selves ready for afternoon rehearsal."

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><p>Afternoon rehearsal went about the same as morning rehearsal. This time, staff worked with their sections on whatever they were learning. Woodwinds as a whole had a singular instructor, named Nakano Azusa. Since Azusa had to deal with flutes, clarinets, and upper saxophones, she left Honoka and Kotori in charge of the clarinets and focused on the other, larger, rowdier sections.<p>

The three clarinets continued working on their feature until Eli approached with another girl. She was a redhead whom Honoka didn't recognize at all.

"Nishikino-san?" The first year clarinetist asked, looking at the redhead.

"You two are friends?" Eli looked between the two.

"Not really," the redhead replied. "We just went to the same middle school."

"Anyway, I wanted to introduce you guys," Eli said, turning to Honoka and Kotori. "This is Nishikino Maki. She's a first year. the ninth member of our cabin." Honoka and Kotori greeted the girl. "She also arranged the piece for this year." They stared at Maki in wonder. "If you have any questions or concerns over a part, you can ask her about it."

Maki nodded. She had an air about her that radiated a form of superiority. Honoka couldn't blame her for acting superior. Not everyone can arrange a piece for a marching band. Especially not a first year.

"She's a percussionist, but she'll be spending the afternoon rehearsal here to get a feel for the band she'll have to write the rest of the program for."

"Ayase-san," a girl from the mellophone section called for her.

"I'll leave you together to get to know each other." Eli turned and left.

"Do you have any questions about the music?" Maki asked. She made no eye contact with any of them.

"Actually it's a request," Honoka said with a small laugh. "Can you try and write the upper saxophones dynamics lower than they need to be? They're always too loud."

"That's something the instructors should fix, not me."

"Well," Kotori cut in. "It's just that they'll play whatever dynamics on the page, regardless. And they only play loud. So it's just, to make things easier, you know?"

Maki sighed. "No promises. It's not my fault they can't play proper dynamics"

"Just the altos though. The lower saxophones are great." Kotori nodded vigorously at Honoka's statement. "I don't know if you've met them yet, but the bari saxophone player is Umi. She's in our cabin. She's really great!"

"I don't care," Maki cut in. She held a stand of hair between her thumb and index finger, twiddling with it. "I'm not interested. If you have nothing else to add, I'll be going." She walked towards where Eli was. She had been tasked with following the older girl around to be introduced to people, Honoka assumed.

"She's just like that," the younger clarinet said. "Don't take it personally. She doesn't make friends well."

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><p>The percussion section was small. Nico always knew that. This year reminded her of how fewer people were joining band. They had just seven people. The seventh was the red haired girl sitting under a tree, doing nothing. They had to call the drum major to help them set up. That pissed Nico off. She hated the decaying state of her section.<p>

The rain had stopped about halfway through the rehearsal. The percussion section was always tasked with marking the field, setting up the podium, and "the box." The box was a towering set of scaffolding that staff could stand on to get a birds eye view of the field. The job involved a lot of running around with tape measures and lifting up pieces of the scaffolding.

"Are you just going to sit there, or are you actually going to help?" She growled, glaring at Maki. Maki had been staring off into space, completely unaware of the other girls presence. She looked to Nico, her mouth opening slightly as though she were about to reply, before it closed again. She stared at Nico for a good thirty seconds before the smaller girl cleared her throat. "Well? We could use your help, _princess._" She snarled the last part. It came out ruder than she was planning. Her anger was justified, at least in her mind.

Nico saw the other girl's eyebrows furrow as she formulated her response. "I didn't know they let preschoolers into the band now. You can tell Otonokizaka is going to shit, huh?" Nico opened her mouth, ready to let out an angry retort, when she heard Eli call for her to get a piece of the scaffolding.

* * *

><p>They were still able to have the afternoon recreational hour outside. They went down to a beach area. The camp was located beside a large pond, giving them access to a fake beach that had been created. The only noticeable features of the beach were a large tree and the copious amounts of water vegetation.<p>

Metal platforms allowed the girls to get past the first two feet of water, which were impossible to traverse with the amount of water vegetation and sea snakes. On the first day, girls were given the opportunity to take a small swimming test that allowed them use of the pond for the week.

Honoka opted into the test, along with most other girls in her cabin. Umi opted out and Kotori said she was going to take the test, but didn't plan on swimming much.

When they got down to the water area, Honoka watched Maki take a blanket and spread it out underneath the tree. The girls who were going to take the swimming test were herded together onto the dock. Honoka stayed long enough to see Umi ask Maki to sit on the other side of her towel. Maki gave her a curt nod, ignoring Umi in favor of the book she was reading.

"She's so annoying," Nico growled next to her.

"Who?" Honoka asked.

"The new girl. She's so arrogant and annoying and it pisses me off." Kotori shrugged.

"She doesn't seem that bad."

"Not to mention the sleeping arrangements. I'm going to scream. Or kill her. Honestly, probably both." Nico was referring to the fact that the cabins weren't actually meant to accommodate nine people. Ritsu's grand plan to fix this involved pushing Nico and Maki's beds together.

"You'll be fine, she can't the that bad." Kotori said again.

"She better play, like, fourth bass drum or something. I want her to suffer."

* * *

><p>Minami Kotori was wrong. At least, that's what Nico kept convincing herself of. Maki was worse than she could have imagined. Without a computer, Nico couldn't do her usual amount of snooping on this girl, but rumors from the first years who knew her confirmed everything Nico had assumed. She was a <em>concert pianist<em>, of all things. Worse than that, she was a famous concert pianist. Not world famous, but she'd made her name in the surrounding area, winning competitions and performing recitals. Not just on piano, but also on marimba. Because she was a renowned percussionist as well. Of course. Why make Nico's life easy. That would be stupid.

So Big-and-Fancy Nishikino Maki is a concert pianist and marimba player and percussionist and is in drum line. Not like Nico should care. Except that of all the things for a first year percussionist to play, she's playing the quads. The tenor drums. The big ones. The ones that Nico's been vying for since like, she started. No big deal.

Except it's a big deal. First years play bass drum. Sure, there's an occasional snare drummer in the mix if there are too many new players, but that hasn't happened in a while. She's the sole quad player. She's a first year. So what she wrote the entire percussion part. That doesn't give her an excuse.

"Nico," Ritsu cut her from her inner rant. "That part was wrong. Fix it." They had two snare drummers. The other girl was a second year. She got along with Nico. The two usually ended up talking about really weird stuff. The had spend the previous year complaining about this one quad player who was the most annoying person Nico had ever met. Nico felt a pair of eyes on her. She knew immediately they were Maki's eyes and she also immediately knew they were judging her. Nico glared into the paper of her sheet music and tried again, growing angrier and angrier with every mistake.

"Nico, loosen your grip," Ritsu said. Nico tried, but again she felt those eyes boring into her head, pissing her off more. "Okay," Ritsu said with a sigh. "We're going to do sectionals. Snares and quads to that side of the barn, bass drums with me." The drums were all on stands. It was too early in the season to be carrying them the whole time. Nobody had the back strength yet.

Nico picked up her drum, before a hand grabbed her arm. "Control yourself, would you?" She heard Ritsu say. Nico refused to look at her, to give any sign that she was listening. "When she wrote the parts, I told her not to hold back. We can change anything that's too hard." Nico knew this was supposed to make her feel better, but it only made her angrier. Dumb down the parts for the World's Greatest Percussionist? How ridiculous of a concept.

Sectionals started and Nico found herself staring at Maki. They only had to get up to measure 20, which Nico already had. Maki was ignoring them, choosing instead to play through the entire first movement. She already knew the parts, seeing as she wrote them, but Nico was annoyed Maki was ignoring them.

"Why are you staring at me?" Maki said, looking up at Nico.

"Huh?" Nico was caught off guard. Maki hadn't seemed to notice her at all. "I was only looking because you were staring at me the whole time we were over there."

This seemed to catch Maki off guard. She stuttered for a few seconds, her face breaking out into a blush. "That's because-"

"See? So you were looking." Maki seemed incapable of a reply, turning back to her instrument and continuing where she had left off.

* * *

><p>Social was boring. It was a repeat of the last one, except this time Maki also sat in a corner of the gym. They returned to their cabins and Ritsu bid them to go to bed, because it wasn't supposed to rain for the rest of the week and they would be outside marching bright and early the next day.<p>

"Can't we change this?" Nico growled angrily. Maki sat on the edge of one of the two beds that had been pushed together, one leg crossed over the other.

"I'm not happy about it either," she said, crossing her arms and face away from Nico with a small "hmph."

"Nobody else will take you, short-stack." Ritsu said with a shrug.

"Seriously? Anyone else," Nico groaned.

"We've all got our beds together, sorry Nicocchi," Nozomi said with a small smile.

"Why can't I be with them?"

"No," Eli shouted. She was already lying in bed.

"Sorry Nico-chan," Rin said with a smile that betrayed the sincerity of her apology. "Kayo-chin doesn't like strangers too much."

"The three of us are already together," Kotori said with an apologetic smile. "There's no sense shoving four beds together."

"Just get over it and go to bed," Ritsu said, moving towards the light switch. "Everyone ready?" The girls nodded and got comfortable under the beds as Ritsu flicked the light off.

The last thing Honoka heard before she fell asleep was the sound of something rustling on the other side of the room and a faint laugh from Nozomi.

* * *

><p><strong>This doesn't usually happen. I usually can't write chapters this quick, so don't get too used to it? We had a snow day idk<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**So George is nobody. Don't think about him too much he's just based on a former instructor I had. I released 2 chapters this week, holy shit!**

**Reviews greatly appreciated**

**Disclaimer: Don't own**

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><p>"Getting up today was worse than yesterday," Honoka moaned.<p>

"Maybe if you stopped wasting your energy every night, you wouldn't be so tired," Umi retorted.

"If I didn't dance all my remaining energy away, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

"You won't have any energy by the end of today," Nozomi said with an all-knowing smile, walking over to their side of the cabin. Honoka tilted her head in a confused manner. "Elichi has a lot planned for today. You'll see," she explained.

"I'm in Hell," Nico said from her position on the bed.

"That makes two of us," Maki replied.

* * *

><p>"Why can't we just switch her with Hanayo?"<p>

"You could make an effort to be nice."

"Wouldn't we all prefer it? Right, Rin?"

"Maki-chan's nice!"

"Nico, try to be nice. She's literally sitting right next to you."

"I'm sure everyone would prefer if we switched you with Hanayo instead," Maki said, looking up from the sheet music she was slaving over.

"Who's serving today? We need more bacon." Maki picked up the bowl, devoid of all delicious bacon, and walked to get more.

"What's your deal?" Ritsu snapped.

"She's attractive and talented and confident and intimidating. She's too much competition."

"Are you just jealous she's taller than you but she's only a first year?" Rin interjected.

"That's dumb. You're dumb."

"Just learn how to behave yourself. You're section leader. Act like it." When Maki returned, Nico implemented an expert plan to avoid any more snide comments, she ignored Maki. It was, in all honesty, a really good plan.

So long as the two didn't start fighting, conversation was light and enjoyable. Honoka liked the part of the table she talked to. The four other girls at their table were in the chorus. Honoka recognized two from her grade, but they weren't really friends. Rin and Honoka bonded well. Honoka was beyond pleased to have found someone as ecstatic about band as she was. They spent a lot of the meals talking about band and their different instruments.

When they finished their meals, they went to a fenced off concrete area near the field. It was a former tennis court, but the net and poles had been removed, leaving it as a great space for morning stretch. Eli led them through some basic stretches from the center of the circle they formed. The went through stretches for their arms, legs, back, and neck, until Eli called them all to get a partner for partner stretches. Honoka saw Kotori and Umi partner up, so she looked around to find a partner.

"Do you have a partner?" Nico asked, walking up to her.

"Ah," Honoka looked to see the first year clarinetist. "I thought you didn't have a partner. Never mind, then!"

Honoka shook her head. "You know Nico-senpai, right? I just saw someone else who needs a partner. I'll go with them." And in truth, she had. She bounded towards the edge of the tennis court before skidding to a stop. "Ma-ki-chan!" Maki leaned against the fence surrounding the tennis court.

"Huh? What do you want?" Maki looked startled.

"We've gotta do partner stretches. Be my partner?" Maki sighed and nodded. They grabbed one of the other's hands and pulled back, stretching their arms, shoulders and back. Honoka was content with the silence, smiling at Maki, who stared back. "You've got a strong grip," Honoka said, smiling wider than before.

"Do you want something?" Maki asked.

"Huh?"

"Do you want something? You've been really nice to me since we met. What do you want?"

"I guess I just want to be friends!" Honoka retained her smile.

"Eh?" Honoka felt the grip on her hand loosen. She had been pulling a lot to keep up with Maki's strength, but the weight she had been pulling against suddenly disappeared. She slipped back, falling to the ground.

"Honoka?" She heard Umi's voice. The stretches had ended and Eli was giving them all a few minutes to stretch out anything else they needed to and put on sunblock. Kotori and Umi ran over to where Honoka was and helped her up.

"It's okay," Honoka said. "I just lost my balance. I'm okay!" Umi gave her a concerned look, but Honoka just waved it off. In front of her, Maki stood awkwardly, moving a strand of hair around with her finger and staring directly at the floor. Honoka opened her mouth to speak again before Eli cut them off.

"Alright, let's all go to the field. We're going to run, so put your stuff down beside the truck." They put their water and bags beneath a U-Haul truck that the school rented out for the band season, to carry around the percussion equipment and instruments.

"How much are we running?" Honoka nervously murmured to Umi.

"We've only been running a lap so far. It shouldn't be that bad," Nico whispered back. Umi looked at the two of them.

"If you'd just started running like I'd told you to, you'd be okay with this," she said. Honoka groaned as they began their run.

"Did we miss how many laps we're doing?" Nico asked.

"She didn't say," Rin said. They ran along the perimeter of the field. The school's field had a track surrounding it, but the grass field they used over camp didn't. They settled for running along the surrounding of the field, giving them slightly shorter laps.

They had just begun, but Honoka could already feel it. The pain in her side, the wheezing in her chest. Her heart would begin to pound uncontrollably, her breath would become quick and ragged and the air would be far too uncomfortable when it got sucked into her lungs. They had only begun and she already knew there was hell to pay.

Running was never too bad, not on a normal scale for a person's tolerance for it, at least. They only ran a little, just as a small warm-up to get the heart moving and blood pumping and to ruin Honoka's life.

She was just out of shape. Naturally, she had a low aptitude for physical movement that didn't lead her to food or her bed. Take that and mix it with the fact that her family owns a Japanese sweets shop and you've basically got a recipe for a girl who doesn't run. Ever.

They were halfway through the first lap when Honoka dared to look around to see how everyone else was faring. She was located in the middle of the pack of girls. The middle of the pack made up the most of the section. A small group of mostly upperclassmen made up the front of the running group. They were a few feet away from the center group. Towards the back were the stragglers. They usually stopped to take a breather for a second or to tie their shoes, or just couldn't make it at the same pace as the rest of the group.

Nico was beside her. Honoka immediately knew they felt the same way. They were both dying from this run. The one that was only a quarter of the way over. Umi was fine, but at the same pace as them, mostly to stay next to Kotori, who seemed to be quickly running out of steam. Honoka had no idea where any of the first years were, until the front of the group turned the corner and she saw Rin keeping pace with Eli, who was leading the group. Nozomi was also nowhere in sight, though Honoka assumed she was somewhere in the front of the group as well.

They finished the lap and Honoka slowed down to a stop, along with a number of other girls.

"Keep going," Eli shouted, turning around while still jogging in place. "We're still going!"

"What is this crap," Honoka heard from Nico. Honoka felt like crying as she began moving again. Her legs were jelly. Actually, jelly was firmer than her legs felt.

"I can't run anymore," Honoka called out to whoever was listening.

"We can do this, Honoka," Kotori called to her.

"Very fast Nico running at incredibly high speeds!" Nico shouted from Honoka's other side.

"Nico, are you crying?"

"Nico's weren't made for running; we were made for better things!"

With a final burst of energy, Honoka made it through to the end of the second lap, skidding to a stop before walking over to get her water. Rin was already over by the water. She ignored Honoka's greeting, instead focused on one of the girls still running.

"Let's go, Kayo-chin!" She shouted towards Hanayo, who was the last person running. She just barely seemed to be able to keep up running at all.

Behind them, Eli was yelling at them all to keep walking, get water, and then get back onto the field for marching warmup, called Basics Block. The stragglers finally finished their second lap and Hanayo fell down at Rin's feet. Rin knelt down, helping Hanayo up.

"Are you okay?"

"Should you be running if you're that out of shape?" Nico asked, walking over. The truck the band put their stuff under was located by the forty yard line. The percussion set up under a tree by the other forty yards line.

Hanayo took a few deep breaths to steady herself. "I'm okay," she finally said.

Behind them, someone began to hit a cowbell with a drumstick an obnoxious number of times. Honoka jumped at the sudden noise.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go, kiddies. It's time for some marching!" Came a distinctly _masculine_ voice. Honoka turned to see a tall man behind her. He looked to be in his early twenties, with brown hair cut into a crew cut. He had ceased whacking the cowbell with his drumstick, instead twirling the stick between his fingers.

"Who is he?" Honoka asked.

"I don't know. He's definitely new." Nico replied.

"Doesn't Otonokizaka only hire females?"

"No, they just usually hire alumni."

"I don't think he's an alumnus."

"He could be an alumnus, I mean, technically."

* * *

><p>"We get more done on a weekend rehearsal and I feel less tired," Nico groaned.<p>

"I have to agree," Umi said. "That was so much more draining than before."

"Camp was so much more fun yesterday," Rin moaned. They were down at the docks, following afternoon rehearsal. The morning block was taken up solely by marching practice and the afternoon with learning drill for the first movement.

"The new guy worked us so much harder than last year," Kotori said in agreement.

"What's his name? George?"

"Didn't he say there was an accent on the e or something?" Honoka asked.

"That would make it be pronounced so weird," Nico snorted.

"What are you guys talking about?" Nozomi asked, walking up towards them. She had been across the makeshift beach with Eli, but had left the girl with some other seniors to go over and talk to them.

"George," Umi answered.

"We hate him," Nico added. Nozomi tilted her head curiously. "Don't tell me you don't."

"It's only been two rehearsals. How do you know you do?"

"He kept yelling at us," Honoka moaned.

"He yelled at us for not having our instruments for morning block even though we never march with instruments this early in the season," Umi said.

"He made Kayo-chin cry!"

"He made us march with our drums on," Nico added.

"Maybe you guys are making a judgment too soon?" Nozomi looked around at the girls. They stared at the ground, feeling like they were being scolded. "Who knows, maybe he is terrible. But you should at least give him a chance. Elichi doesn't seem to mind him too much."

"That's true," Umi admitted. Nozomi smiled, feeling her point getting across, she turned and left.

"I think he's terrible," Maki said, looking up from the page of sheet music she was writing on. The six other girls turned to look at her. She froze up at the sudden attention. "I just, I mean, I get that during competitions we all have to look exactly the same and be at the same skill level, but he expected us all to just know exactly what to do."

"With our drums on," Nico said with a nod.

"Exactly," Maki said. "I've never marched before. I have no idea how to do it on my own, much less with a drum on."

"He also didn't let us get any help," Rin added.

"And he talked down to everyone. Like chill, dude, you're not king of the world," Honoka said.

"Any time I tried to ask someone a question about what we were supposed to do, he just yelled at me for talking," Maki said.

"He kept making fun of you. Like low-key sassing you. I swear if he came over and asked how 'Otonokizaka's composer' was faring one more time I thought my head would explode." Nico said.

"You noticed that?" Nico nodded vigorously. The conversation settled to silence for a little and Maki returned to her paper. Maki was tapping the pencil against her head, eyebrows furrowed deep in thought.

"Sonoda-senpai," She said, turning to Umi, sitting next to her. "You have experience with saxophones, right?" She nodded. "Can you help me with this saxophone melody in the second movement? I have no experience with this kind of thing." Umi nodded and moved a little closer to Maki, looking over what she had on her paper and moving her fingers along with the part, humming it quietly.

* * *

><p>"You too were getting along so well earlier, I don't understand," Rin watched the two girls arguing.<p>

"It's not my fault I'm the only one who doesn't care enough to sleep next to you."

"What was that?" Nico growled. "Do you want to fight?"

"Aren't you better than acting like a kid? Then again, you already look like one."

Nico snorted. "You'll regret that I swe-"

"Stop it!" Honoka moaned with her face buried in her pillow. "How do you two have enough energy to keep fighting just stop it, my god."

Across the cabin, Hanayo and Rin had already gotten into bed, having fallen asleep cuddling to each other. Eli and Nozomi were also already in bed.

"Elichi, the light hasn't even been turned out yet," Nozomi whispered to Eli, who was clinging tightly to her waist.

"Shut up, just shut up," Eli whispered back, her eyes clamped tightly shut.

* * *

><p><strong>Just know that I kind of have an intimate knowledge of marching band from four years of marching. If I ever don't explain something enough or it doesn't make sense, don't hesitate to ask. I probably think what I'm saying makes sense, even though it doesn't!<strong>

**Also I had this whole section that was basically an giant Dante reference, but I took it out because the only reason I added it was because I'm reading Dante's Inferno. I figured it probably wouldn't make too much sense, so the weird low word count can be accounted to that.**

**Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**New chapter. I'm not super happy with this, but I at least got it out.**

**Thanks to those who reviewed! always appreciated and stuff.**

**Disclaimer: not mine, yo.**

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><p>Hell is an understatement to the kind of pain that one feels when running laps at band camp. Wednesday began the same as Tuesday, with running. Eli had called three laps before the run began and all Honoka could feel by the end of the run was her heart breaking in her chest.<p>

She had her hands on her knees, leaned over, heaving air in and out of her lungs.

"It's too much," Honoka said, looking to Umi, who was out of breath as well. "We shouldn't be running."

"Even I think this is a little much," Umi said. "We just ran two laps. We should build ourselves up to running more laps. We can't just go straight to three laps. It doesn't make much sense."

"Stay standing, keep walking, get water and put your hands on your head," Eli shouted, walking between the groups of girls.

"No," Kotori gave a lame moan. She sprawled out on the ground next to Nico, who began to roll.

"I'm rolling away. I'm going to roll home," Nico said, though her rolling was taking her nowhere.

"Divide up by your classes," Eli called again. "Third years go by the fifty yard line, second years by the truck and first years and any other rookies by the scaffolding. Come on, we don't have all day."

Honoka waved goodbye to Nico and the first years. They waited a few minutes, leaning up against the truck, while Eli talked to the third years. After, the third years parted and went up to the truck.

"Nicochi and I are going to be in charge of you guys for a little while," Nozomi said, giving them a small wave.

"Eh? Why?"

"They're dividing us into small groups by cabin to teach marching technique better. Most cabins have a pretty even divide of third years, second years, and first years, so it's a good chance for us all to get some experience."

Umi nodded. "That makes sense," she said.

Nico had moved past them to talk to the other snare player. "Since you have most of the drumline, take them separate when they work on marching sideways and teach them that," Honoka overheard her say. They got the first years and made their way to the field.

The eight girls of the cabin, minus Eli, stood in a clump along the makeshift thirty yard line.

"Okay," Nozomi said when they had all gathered. "We're going to practice marching forwards and backwards. After that Nicochi and Maki will go off separately and learn weird percussion sideways technique and we'll stay here and work on our sideways technique."

Nico moved in front of Maki, looking smug. "You should be thankful that the amazing Nico-chan is willing to teach you how to march. With my expertise, you just _might_ shape up to the challenge."

Maki glared back and Rin turned to Honoka with a sheepish smile. "They're going to fight again," Rin said.

"Nicochi," Nozomi said, a warning tone in her voice. It took her one step to get to Nico, who had frozen in fear. Nozomi placed one hand on each of Nico's breasts. "If you don't stop fighting, I'll have to punish you." Maki took a step back, taken aback by Nozomi's actions.

"That's what she meant by punishment," Kotori whispered to Honoka, who shuddered.

They stood in a line, minus the third years, and went through basic marching technique. Honoka felt pretty comfortable, because she'd been doing this for a year before. Marching was pretty easy. In her first year, Honoka had trouble staying on one place for longer than a second. After being disciplined, she became a proficient at marching.

"I will pay for him to not come near us," Nico glared across the field at George, who was weaving in and out of the groups of girls, making comments about their marching.

"Agreed," Maki said, following Nico's gaze.

"You guys really are making a judgment too early. He's perfectly fine," Nozomi said. "Anyway, we need to work on marching sideways, so the two of you have to go."

A short while after Nico and Maki divided off George had made it to their side of the field. Nico and Maki were stuck in some weird limbo between actually learning about marching and arguing about nothing.

"The two of you should be working," he said. The two were pulled from their argument, which involved Nico shoving her foot forward to show something about marching technique. "Not to mention," he continued. "What are the two of you doing off on your own, anyway. You should be with your cabin. Unless the two of you are a cabin." Nico opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off. "If the two of you are, I hope nothing _unsavory_ is going on in your cabin." He laughed.

"Wait did he just-" Honoka started. The rest of the cabin had stopped to listen to what he was saying.

"Was that a joke?" Kotori asked.

"Why?" Rin said.

Umi remained stoic for a moment, before realization of what he was talking about hit her. Her face immediately became red. "How could he discuss something so shameful in a joking way," she stuttered out.

"Terrible, he's terrible," Nico growled as George walked away. He seemed satisfied with his poorly aimed, and in all honesty very out of place, joke.

"I would pay for him to leave and never come back," Maki replied.

* * *

><p>"Okay, but what exactly are skits?" Honoka asked.<p>

"They seem like a waste of time," Maki said.

"They're terrible," Umi said from her position in the corner of their cabin. At the announcement they would be working on skits during their break, she had immediately moved to the corner of the cabin and crouched down, trying to make herself as nonexistent as possible.

"It seems fun!" Rin said from her spot next to Honoka. The two were seated on Honoka's bed, along with Hanayo.

Nico stood, crossing her arms and standing in front of the first years and Honoka. "Skits are one of the most important parts of camp. It's an opportunity for every cabin to show their creative and funny side. Don't go for serious, heartwarming, and don't be like the choral girls, who have to retell the plot of The Notebook every single year. We go to win, to kick ass and take names."

"I have to agree with Nico on that," Eli said. She sat with Nozomi and Maki on Nico and Maki's shared beds. "At least on some level. It should be succinct. The point of skits is a little break from camp life. So we should just do something short and funny, get it over with."

"Basically we just need an idea. Anything to start with," Nozomi said, a pad of paper sitting on her lap. She tapped her pencil against her head, thinking.

"Lucky for you all, I already have an idea," Nico said, smirking. "Let me set the scene. It's dark, until a singular spotlight lights up a pedestal. Standing on it is none other than the queen of the world, Yazawa Nico. From that spot, I give my presidential address. I inform all my people that I am a kind and benevolent leader, a fearless ruler of their kind, and a-"

"This idea is stupid," Maki cut in.

"Have you ever considered that you're stupid?" Nico shot back. Maki opened her mouth to respond, but promptly shut it, deciding that the girl wasn't worth a comeback.

"I don't think that would work," Nozomi said.

"Whatever idea we use, I would like to propose that at some point in it I kill Maki. Like actually kill. I'll get the knife. Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"How about we figure something out?" Nozomi said.

"We could do, like, band camp therapy or something," Honoka said.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I get it," Kotori said. "We could go through all the bad parts of camp. Like never getting a proper shower, or the spiders everywhere, that kind of stuff."

"We could do how infrequently we get water breaks," Rin said with a nod.

"Or waking up to reveille every morning and falling asleep to taps," Hanayo added.

"And George and all the running," Honoka said with a nod.

"George?" Honoka looked up to Eli. They had been so engrossed in thinking of bad things about camp that they'd forgotten who else was with them.

"Uh, that is," Honoka scrambled to find a response.

"We hate him," Nico said, standing to face her. "We get you seem to love him, but we don't."

"Nico," Maki started to cut in.

"What?" She turned to face the rest of them. "I'm not going to mince words about this. He's rude and we don't like him. It's that simple."

"Nicochi," Nozomi stood, pulling Nico's attention away from Eli.

"Well, whatever," Eli said. "Just try and think of something short and funny. And quickly, it's almost time for dinner." She turned and walked to the other side of the cabin.

* * *

><p>"Maki-chan, the point of the social is to be social. That's where the name comes from," Nozomi said, walking up to the red-haired girl. She was standing up against the wall of the Ping-Pong room, staring at nothing.<p>

"Huh?"

"First years are usually desperate to make friends," Nozomi leaned up against the wall next to her. "You haven't been trying at all, though. You're very odd."

Maki said nothing in response. Undeterred, Nozomi continued speaking. "Nicochi's been working every day on the music, even during the social." Maki looked over to Nico, who was across the room, playing through her parts.

"So?" Nozomi shrugged.

"You wrote her part. You should know it better than anyone. Why not help her?"

Maki furrowed her eyebrows. "What's your end goal with this?"

"You and Nico both don't have many friends. It seems like the best idea."

"Yeah, but if you haven't noticed, we kind of, I don't know, don't like each other?"

Nozomi gave her a knowing smile. "You're not honest with yourself. You want to be friends with everyone, but you're not going to try." She paused. "I won't force you to be her friend, obviously. But it's worth a shot. Even just to help her with her struggles in the piece."

Maki pushed herself off from the wall and began to move towards the other side of the room. She gave a lame excuse of going to the bathroom, but the second the words left her mouth both girls knew they weren't true. She didn't like giving Nozomi the satisfaction of pushing her to make friends with Nico.

"You're just like her," Nozomi said aloud, mostly to herself.

"Nico?" Maki turned back, a slightly disturbed look on her face.

Nozomi shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said, moving past Maki towards some other seniors.

When Maki reached the other side of the room, she began to feel nervous. The two had maybe two conversations that didn't involve an argument, and one of them was only a few words. She wasn't great with socializing; she never tried to deny that fact.

She slid down until she was sitting next to Nico, who ignored her.

"What do you want?" Nico grunted, not tearing her eyes from the music.

"I, uh, do you need any help? I wrote that, so you know." Nico stopped playing. Maki had assumed that Nico devoting her full attention to the conversation, instead of drumming through it, would make her less nervous. It had the opposite effect. She felt a knot start to form in her stomach.

"Why? Because you're so great and I'm so terrible?" Maki was used to people not liking her, but she'd never actually had someone she barely met two days ago talk to her with such malice in their voice. She felt a familiar, defensive retort start to bubble in the back of her throat. She pushed it down, deciding, against her better judgment, to try and befriend Nico.

"I don't write for marching band," Maki answered honestly. Nico frowned. "When I joined and was asked to write, I asked Ritsu about the drumline's skill level. She said the center player was really, really good, so I should just listen to some videos of good drum corps online and try and emulate them."

"Oh."

"Some of it may not make sense. It's really different from playing something like concert snare, so I wasn't really sure what to do."

"This part," Nico said, pointing to a particular measure. "If you try and switch between these rudiments at this speed you'll mess up. The sticking's too weird to work."

Maki looked at the measure. "I'm pretty sure the winds are holding chords here," she said. "So you guys just kind of, you know," she trailed off, trying to find the word to describe it.

"Go H.A.M?"

"Yeah. If you have any suggestions that would really help." Nico nodded and began to show Maki what she thought was a better way for the measure to go.

* * *

><p>"What did you do?" Eli asked, looking over at the first and third year. Nozomi smiled at her friend.<p>

"I have no idea what you mean."

"They're always at each other's throats. You did something, didn't you?" Nozomi just smiled until Eli groaned, admitting defeat and dropping it.

"She really is just like you," Nozomi said. "She just needed a push in the right direction."


	6. Chapter 6

**I meant to upload this earlier, but I had this big jazz competition and was basically never home. But today I am sick so I actually did something with my life. Writing a chapter about each day of camp is kind of hard, so I hope that post camp will be easier for me because I won't have to deal with a strict 24 window of time to write about, if that makes sense.**

**antonio18: she'll probably show up in a few chapters!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, yo.**

* * *

><p>"When she's honest, she's palatable."<p>

"What does that mean?" Honoka asked.

"She's got this arrogant 'better-than-you' attitude. But she's not bad when she drops that."

"You're one to talk," Rin said, leering at Nico.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nico glared back. As the week progressed, Nico, Honoka, and Rin became close. The three had garnered many names, but the two that stuck best were "The Three Stooges" (given by Nozomi), and "The Three Idiots" (given by Maki and adopted by Umi). They were known for some radical exploits, like trying to swim the length of the pond.

* * *

><p><em>"Come on, Nico-chan!" Rin pulled Nico toward the back of the docks. It was Wednesday and Nico's plans involved relaxing and, well, definitely not this.<em>

_"Rin-chan, we should stop," Honoka said._

_"Eh?"_

_"It's obvious, isn't it? It's not that Nico-chan doesn't want to do this, it's that she can't."_

_"What? I totally can!"_

_"I see," Rin said, nodding. "Nico-chan, I'm sorry for trying to force you to do something you can't!"_

_"Come one, Rin-chan, let's go."_

_"Fuck you guys," Nico growled. "I can do it. In fact, I'll lead the way. It's my duty as your upperclassman."_

_Nico couldn't do it. They began swimming from the dock to the other side. They started strong, and Honoka felt that maybe all the running they'd been doing had started to pay off. Rin was physically strong, already some feet ahead of them._

_When they got halfway across, Honoka remember her low aptitude for physical activity should have warned her against doing this._

_"I give up! I just give up!" She shouted._

_"Don't bitch out on me!" Nico shouted back._

_"Wait, wait, Nico-chan." Honoka slowed to a stop._

_"I told you not to quit on me," Nico said, slowing as well._

_"Where's Rin-chan?"_

_"She was ahead of us- look!" Nico pointed across the water. Rin was jumping up and down along the other side._

_"She finished." Amazement evident in Honoka's voice. Nico gritted her teeth._

_"Are you just going to accept being outclassed by an underclassman?" The two locked eyes, nodding._

_"Let's go!" They went off, swimming again._

* * *

><p><em>Rin had to swim with Nico on her back and Honoka with one arm slung over her shoulder. Both feebly continued to kick their legs and move their arms, still under the impression they were swimming. Rin heaved them onto the dock, where they lay for a few minutes, trying to regain their bearings.<em>

_"Did we do it?" Nico asked._

_"Nico-chan. Tell, tell Yukiho that- that she can have all the bread." Hanayo and Kotori had been sitting on the docks, their feet resting in the water, when Honoka, Rin, and Nico returned. The two helped Honoka and Nico stand and moved them towards the sand, Rin trailing behind them, proudly beaming at everyone._

_Honoka felt herself being laid on a towel. They were both conscious, just incredibly disoriented. She was vaguely aware that Maki and Umi were now also standing above her._

_"Where were you?" Umi asked. Honoka opened her mouth to respond, but all that came out was a loud gurgling noise._

_"We swam the pond!" Rin said proudly._

_"The pond?" Nozomi asked, approaching with Eli. Honoka's vision was beginning to return to her and she became aware that she was actually not lying down, but sitting against Nico, who was mumbling her signature "Nico Nico ni" under her breath._

_"The whole thing!" Rin said with a nod. "I actually had to swim back with both of them. They made it far, but gave out pretty quickly."_

_"I don't think that's allowed," Eli said, crossing her arms._

_"Not to mention completely stupid. The three of you could have drowned or got bit by one of the water snakes. Nobody even knew you were out."_

_"They are the three idiots," Maki grumbled. Honoka's vision had completely returned and she moved to stand. Nico, who was far less together, fell back when Honoka moved, becoming completely sprawled out on the towel._

_"Honoka-chan, you shouldn't be standing, you're really out of it," Kotori said, moving towards the stumbling girl. She slung one of Honoka's arms over her shoulder to help steady her._

_"Kotori, you shouldn't be so nice to her," Umi said. "It's her fault for doing something so reckless."_

_"It was Rin's idea," Honoka said._

_"You said it would be cool if someone could cross the pond!" Rin shouted._

_"You said we should do it," Honoka shot back._

_"That's right," Nico moaned from her position on the towel. "It's all them."_

_"Nico-chan said she'd lead the charge as an upperclassman," Rin said._

_"Plus, when I was going to give up she told me not to!"_

_"What was that you-" Nico stood up and raised her hand in a fist, moving towards the two. She took two steps before she fell on her face. Maki took a step back, staring at Nico, disgusted._

_"Well, all that really matters is that you're all fine," Eli said. Umi turned to look at her, shocked._

_"But they clearly broke the rules. They weren't supposed to go out that far," she said._

_"And nobody knows about it. No harm, no foul. We'll just try and make sure they're okay so they don't have to go to the Nurse's cabin."_

* * *

><p>"All we ask is that you try to eat in moderation, to avoid anyone getting sick," Sawako concluded. Before meals, everyone stood around their table and listened to any announcements Sawako had. She concluded, and everyone sat, moving plates and chatting amiably. One of the other girls at Honoka's table, named Marika, was serving dinner, so she focused her attention on the conversation going on in front of her.<p>

"That's a stupid idea," Maki said.

"Yeah, but it's _your_ stupid idea," Nico retorted.

"No. No, it actually wasn't."

"Taco night is sacred, not to mention the record hasn't changed in years!"

"There's a reason for that," Mio, the other counselor at their table, said. "The last person to break it was Ritsu, in our senior year. It ended with a few hospital visits."

"I got through so many tacos I lost track. Mugi kept score for us. In fact, Yui almost beat me, but Azusa stopped her from eating too much. Our first year, I hit the record. We had just met Yui and Mugi, so we didn't know them well. Yui beat the record, but she didn't even know she had beaten it." The two counselors shared a look, smiling fondly at the memory.

"Our second year, Azusa served taco night and cut them off before they got too far," Mio added.

"And then our third year. Mugi was serving-"

"And she just enabled you both."

"Yeah, well. Yui convinced Azusa to let us go wild, and Mio was at another table for the day, I can't remember why, but, more importantly, we did it. Twenty-three tacos later, I was victorious. Yui clocked out, mostly because her sister finally got involved and stopped her."

"Twenty-three is the record?" Rin asked with her eyes wide in amazement.

"Indeed it is. And Yui and I hold the dual taco record with forty-two tacos. So if two of you want to go against the challenge, those are your records to beat."

"Honoka," Nico said, focusing her stare on the other girl. "Let's do it." Honoka nodded, mirroring the determined look on Nico's face.

"Hey, Maki-chan, let's-"

"No," Maki cut Rin off. By this point, Marika had returned with the first batch of ground beef tacos, along with various toppings. Honoka and Nico immediately sprang into action.

"Any specific parameters?" Nico asked.

"Must contain a decent amount of ground beef and toppings. Not every topping, but at least two. Tacos with everything on them breach the seventies, when we sued to spend the week here with an all-boys school. This guy, nicknamed Ciacco, ate seventeen everything tacos. We aren't sure what happened to him, but can you imagine having been in his cabin that night?" The girls shivered at the thought.

"So like this?" Honoka held up her taco.

"That's perfect," Ritsu said. Honoka hungrily bit into the taco, desperately trying to replenish the energy she'd lost earlier from swimming. She managed through two, then three, wolfing down tacos until the bowl was empty. Marika silently grabbed the bowl, moving to get more taco meat. The other girls at Honoka's table seemed to have no problem with the taco challenge occurring at their table. They, along with Maki, had gone to get some of the cold dishes that were left out daily, including salad and sandwiches.

"Honoka, no," Honoka heard a voice behind her. She turned to see Umi glaring at her. Both Umi and Kotori had turned around in their seats to face Honoka, who grinned sheepishly.

"But Umi-chan!"

"You'll gain weight. Not to mention, how are you supposed to rehearse if you've eaten god knows how many tacos."

"Twenty-four is the goal. And don't worry, I'll do great!" Umi stared at Honoka with a look of disbelief. Kotori smiled, holding out a plate of ground beef.

"Would you like some of ours, we probably won't eat too many, so you can have some," she said. Honoka's eyes lit up as she happily took the plate.

"Thanks, Kotori-chan! You're the best!"

"Don't encourage her," Umi said with a defeated sigh. Honoka spun around in her seat, placing the plate of meat down and beginning to assemble more tacos.

* * *

><p>"Nico knew this would happen," Honoka said, doubled over in pain.<p>

"If she was going to leave, Rin never would have attempted the challenge," Rin said, mirroring Honoka's position. Nico had failed to mention that Thursday was Senior Night, a night in which the seniors would leave during evening rehearsal and go bowling. They also got pizza, but Honoka was pretty sure Nico wasn't going to be eating any of that. She had done pretty amazingly, in all honesty. Honoka beat the single record by eating twenty-six tacos, only really stopping because the meal block was ending and she didn't have much of a choice. Nico had achieved a formidable accomplishment of nineteen tacos, despite her size.

They had defeated both challenges and Honoka had been beyond proud of herself at first. A few minutes into the rehearsal, however, things changed. The feeling started in her gut, a sort of pain she couldn't place the cause of. It intensified quickly, until she realized that it was the food she had eaten catching up with her. Rin, who only achieved twelve tacos, was faring no better.

"She didn't have to rehearse though," Honoka groaned. Rehearsal had just finished, so they were all packing their instruments away and getting ready to head back to the main lodge.

"Well, you may be in pain now, but just think about what you accomplished," Ritsu said, walking up to them.

"Thank you, captain!" Rin said, doing her best to stand up straight and salute.

"At ease, private." The two had continued referring to each other as captain and private for the whole week. "A final suggestion," Ritsu said, "try and get as much out during the social. Don't reek up the cabin, yeah?"

"Oh, right," Honoka said, her eyes widening in fear.

"Rin only had twelve. How are you going to survive?"

* * *

><p>Thursday's social was the most awkward Hanayo had been to yet. Honoka and Rin had been trading the bathroom the whole time. She started out over with them, trying to help Rin feel better as best she could, until Rin ushered her away, promising that she'd do better if she just got it all out.<p>

She tried to start up a conversation with Maki, who ignored her in favor of writing music, not that Hanayo could really blame her. She ended up awkwardly sitting with Umi and Kotori in a corner. Hanayo quickly got the feeling she was bothering the two girls. They never said it outright, but she couldn't shake that feeling, watching Kotori flip through a magazine and Umi write in her music. The silence was somewhat unbearable, because, at least in Hanayo's mind, the silence was because she was there.

She looked up to both of her upperclassmen. Umi played an instrument in a low register, much like Hanayo, and she was well known through the first years as an amazing player. Kotori always supported Honoka's plans and misadventures, something Hanayo connected with, as she was the same way with Rin. Both seniors were seemed so together and self-assured. And Hanayo was probably bothering them.

"Hanayo-chan," Kotori said, looking up from her magazine. "Are you bored?"

"What? I, uh, I mean, why do you think that?" Hanayo stuttered through her words. God, she hated this about herself.

"You've just been sitting there silently. I figured you were bored, that's all."

"Oh, no. It's fine." Kotori frowned, looking at Hanayo thoughtfully. She held out the magazine she was reading to Hanayo, pointing at a specific outfit on the page.

"What do you think of this?" She asked.

"Uh, it's cute, I think."

"Right? It's a little out of my price range, but I should be able to afford it if I save up for a few months," Kotori said, placing the magazine on her lap and staring at it, a smile on her face.

"You like fashion a lot, don't you Kotori-sempai?" Hanayo asked.

"A ton, yeah! I've wanted to be a fashion designer since before I entered elementary school," she replied.

"She's been the unofficial best dressed in the school every year," Umi said, looking up from her music. Her tone was factual, but Hanayo couldn't help but notice the glint in her eyes that betrayed another emotion, possibly pride in her friend.

"I am death!" Honoka's voice pulled them from their conversation. She fell to the ground between Kotori and Umi, the former of whom patted her head.

"Kotori, don't be so nice to her!" Umi scolded Kotori, and then went to scold Honoka. "And you, you brought this upon yourself. You knew it was a bad idea!"

"But I had to do it! And you can't lie and say you aren't the least bit proud of me, Umi-chan!"

"I am not!" The two continued their bickering, which Hanayo watched, somewhat flabbergasted.

"They've always been like this," Kotori said, leaning towards Hanayo so the girl could hear better. "We've been friends since we were children, and they've always been like this." Kotori's expression was one of fondness towards her friends, even during an argument.

"It's nice though," Kotori continued. "It's always been just the three of us, but this year it feels like our group of friends is growing." Hanayo smiled, watching the argument with Kotori. She felt a pair of familiar arms wrap themselves around her.

"Kayo-chin! Rin's all better now!" Rin said, hugging Hanayo tightly.

"Really? Are you sure it doesn't still hurt?" Hanayo said, turning to look at her friend, worried. Rin let go of Hanayo and stood up straight, grinning proudly. Behind her, Maki stood twirling a strand of hair between her thumb and index finger.

"Maki-chan gave me some medicine to help me feel better!" Rin said.

"Why did you have medicine on you?" Kotori asked.

"No reason! My mom packed it for me when I wasn't looking," Maki answered far too quickly. Rin sat down next to Hanayo, resuming hugging her tightly. Maki sat next to Rin, picking a wall and staring at it intently.

"Maki-san," Hanayo said, getting the attention of the red-haired girl. "Um, thank you!" Hanayo smiled widely and Maki felt her cheeks begin to burn. She turned her face away from Hanayo and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I- I just did it to make sleeping tonight easier. Don't take it the wrong way!"

* * *

><p>"Does that card mean anything special?" Eli asked, sitting next to Nozomi, who stared at the card in her hand.<p>

"It means change is beginning to occur," Nozomi said with a sage nod. Eli gave a nod, not quite understanding but also not doubting Nozomi. "It also means its Nicocchi's turn to bowl. She's been in there for quite some time," Nozomi said, looking towards the bathroom door.

"What is taking her so long?" Eli asked, following Nozomi's gaze.

"It's inexplicable," Nozomi said, but her knowing smile suggested that she knew exactly what was happening to Nico.

"Speaking of inexplicable things, how exactly have you bowled a perfect three hundred?"

"The cards were in my favor today, Elichi," Nozomi said, the same smile on her face.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah so we're nearing our big band competitions, but after that I basically have nothing to do, so expect updates as soon as I can get them out! <strong>

**Thanks! Please review, though idk I don't control you.**


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